Many people like to share content with their personal contacts, such as family members. Photos and calendar events are examples of content that may be shared, although other types of information could also be shared. Regular sharing of content helps people to keep up with what is going on in each other's lives, and may foster a general sense of connectedness.
Many people do not frequently share content because of the effort involved. In theory, computers simplify the process of sharing content. For example, instead of having many prints made of a photographic negative and sending the prints physically by mail, one could e-mail a digital picture or could post the picture on a web site to be viewed by others. Also, instead of writing a letter to share upcoming events, one could e-mail calendar entries or could make one's electronic calendar visible to others. However, sharing content in these ways generally involves making the effort to select the content to be shared and/or to initiate sharing of the content.